Such actions would shock those who know me; they ought to shock me.

Am I in a dream, from which I am going to awaken presently?
Is that the explanation ?" I shook my head.
"No, not in that sense, at least.

Rather the other way around.

You have been in a dream all your life--a dream that some social code somewhere constituted the real world.

Under these petty regulations of conduct you were not yourself at all, only a make-believe.